I HAD the fruit tasting of a lifetime here last month. It went on for 12 hours over two days. By the end I had sampled several hundred different kinds of apples, some like no apple I'd ever tasted before.

At least eight varieties tasted hauntingly of roses. Several surprised me with the distinct taste of anise or fennel. There were aromas of all kinds. Flowers and spices and nuts, including coconut. Lots of other fruits: orange peel and lemon, strawberry, pineapple, green banana. Rhubarb. Occasionally, popcorn, and potatoes. Some apples seemed to suffer from confused genus identity and tasted like pears.

It was exhilarating to experience such different flavors in apples brought here from all over the world. It was also frustrating, because I might not ever be able to experience them again.